19 years after, Eedris Abdulkareem remixes ‘Jaga Jaga’, tackles Buhari, Obasanjo

Nineteen years after he released his monster hit single, ‘Jaja Jaga’, socially conscious rapper Eedris Abdulkareem has dropped a follow-up single titled ‘Lords of Jaga Jaga’.

‘Jaga Jaga’, undoubtedly Eedris’ biggest track, has been remixed four times.

In May 2021, the controversial rapper dropped ‘Jaga Jaga Oti Get e’, which took a jab at the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo.

It followed Mr Keyamo’s public exposure of private communication between them.

Mr Keyamo accused the rapper of resorting to blackmail after failing to extort money to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

He called Mr Keyamo’s bluff in a lengthy post on his Instagram handle and tagged him a cabal member and added that “Keyamo is in pain because his next ambition is to be governor of Delta State’’.

‘Lords of Jaga Jaga’

In the new track, ‘Lords of Jaga Jaga’, around Eedris, 48, tackled president Buhari and former president Olusegun Obsasanjo.

It comes on the heels of the release of ‘Thank You’, a tribute song to his wife, Yetunde, who donated a kidney to him.

Unlike ‘Jaga Jaga’, a general take on the political class and criminals in the society, Eedris narrowed his tirade down, this time to President Muhammadu Buhari. He describes the track of the ‘‘promax edition of Jaga Jaga 2023’’.

Referring to President Buhari as the ‘Jaga Jaga Master’, the singer decried a situation without money, fuel, light, peace, unity, and security.

“O ga, we just dey go in a cycle. We do get direction. Nothing seems to be working,” he sings.

He also has a few words for former President Obasanjo, referring to him as the chief campaigner writing “plenty letter to the Jaga Jaga master Buhari’’.

The singer went ahead to tackle the shortage of the naira, fuel scarcity, insecurity and disunity in Nigeria.

He sings, “Insecurity no concern una. If una fit free una terrorists, it’s time to free Nnamdi Kanu. Make una no poison Nnamdi. This government na big fraud. We dey use naira to buy naira. The dollar now na 700 nairas. Naija, we dey produce crude oil, meanwhile we dey queue for stations.”

In January 2019, Eedris said it was a shame having Mr Buhari as president.

That same year, he released ‘Jaga Jaga’ Part 2, a direct jab at President Buhari.

The ‘Jagajaga’ crooner took to Instagram to speak about several national issues, especially Mr Obasanjo’s role in Mr Buhari’s ascension to power in 2015.

In 2021, the singer remixed another version of ‘Jaga Jaga’, featuring Madarocka Chi and Mr Raw, which compared Buhari’s presidency to a military regime.

Eedris and Obasanjo

Eedris, a former Kennis Music artiste, first took a swipe at Mr Obasanjo in 2004 when he released a song titled ‘Nigeria Jaga Jaga’.

Mr Obasanjo would react to the rapper’s song/lyrics eight years later at a Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI) forum in 2012.

In June 2018, the controversial rapper dropped another track titled ‘Letter to Obasanjo’, wherein he claimed the ex-president was the ‘’problem of Nigeria.’

In the song produced by Mr Lekki, Eedris accused Mr Obasanjo of corruption and killing the people of Odi.

‘Jaga Jaga’, which Eedris released during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, received critical acclaim while also earning the singer some form of notoriety.

The artiste, whose last album, ‘Nothing But The Truth’ was released in 2021, said, ‘Lords of Jaga Jaga’, is a traditional people-orientated song which serves as a voice for the voiceless and the face of the unseen.

“Like the wise minds of old said, ‘the taste of the pudding is in the eating’, so I invite you on a soul-searching journey into the innermost feelings of the downtrodden masses of Nigeria, who speak through Eedris,” he wrote on Instagram.

Lords of Jaga Jaga

Referring to President Buhari as the ‘Jaga Jaga Master’, the singer decried a situation without money, fuel, light, peace, unity, and security.

“O ga, we just dey go in a cycle. We do get direction. Nothing seems to be working,” he sings.

He also has a few words for former President Obasanjo, referring to him as the chief campaigner writing “Plenty letter to the Jaga,

Jaga master Buhari.”

The singer went ahead to tackle the shortage of the naira, fuel scarcity, insecurity and disunity in Nigeria.

He sings, “Insecurity no concern una. If una fit free una terrorists, it’s time to free Nnamdi Kanu. Make una no poison Nnamdi. This government na big fraud. We dey use naira to buy naira. The dollar now na 700 nairas. Naija, we dey produce crude oil, meanwhile we dey queue for stations.”

Eedris Abdulkareem

Mr Abdulkareem, who recently underwent a successful kidney transplant, is no stranger to controversy.

In 2004, after the release of ‘Jaga Jaga’, the singer came head-to-head with the administration of President Obasanjo.

The latter called the singer out, stating that his family was Jaga Jaga.

The former member of The Remedies then made a follow-up song, ‘Letter to Mr President’, under an album of the same name.

He explained the context of the original ‘Jaga Jaga’ music in that song.

In 2022, ‘Mr Lecturer’, as he was once known, announced that he was down with kidney failure.

His wife, Yetunde, after many tests, was announced as his donor.

Later that year, he had a successful kidney transplant at a hospital in Nigeria.